BLUE JAY 225 



out behind it perhaps, and give their note of alarm, 

 when away goes the whole flock. Such a flock circled 

 back and forth several times over my head, just like 

 ducks reconnoitring before they alight. If you look 

 with a glass you are surprised to see how alert these 

 spies are. When they alight in some stubbly hollow 

 they set a watch or two on the rocks to look out for 

 foes. They have dusky bills and legs. 



BLUE JAT 



1846-47. 1 The blue jays suffered few chestnuts to 

 reach the ground, resorting to your single tree in flocks 

 in the early morning, and picking them out of the burs 

 at a great advantage. 



Nov. 16, 1850. I hear deep amid the birches some 

 row among the birds or the squirrels, where evidently 

 some mystery is being developed to them. The jay is 

 on the alert, mimicking every woodland note. What 

 has happened ? Who 's dead ? The twitter retreats be- 

 fore you, and you are never let into the secret. Some 

 tragedy surely is being enacted, but murder will out. 

 How many little dramas are enacted in the depth of 

 the woods at which man is not present! 



Dec. 31, 1850. The blue jays evidently notify each 

 other of the presence of an intruder, and will some- 

 times make a great chattering about it, and so com- 

 municate the alarm to other birds and to beasts. 



July 8, 1852. The jay's note, resounding along a 

 raw wood-side, suggests a singular wildness. 



Feb. 2, 1854. The scream of the jay is a true winter 



1 [Undated entry in journal of this period.] 



